Iowa Is Ready For Sherrod Brown To Run

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Guest post from Nan Whaley, the mayor of Dayton, Ohio and the co-chair of the Committee to Draft Sherrod Brown for President 2020. She visited Iowa last week. When my friend Sherrod Brown was first elected to the U.S. Senate in 2006, he joked that his new chamber was full of “99 people who wanted to be President.” Sherrod’s mindset has always been different – focused on the work at hand and the Ohioans he represents, not his advancing his own career. In the years since, Sherrod has pieced together an impressive string of accomplishments, much to the chagrin of […]

Why This Iowan Is Caucusing For John Delaney

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A guest post from Paula Meyer of St. Ansgar, Iowa. She’s one of John Delaney’s Iowa campaign co-chairs. I first heard John Delaney speak in Washington, D.C. in 2013 about his ideas to create and fund an infrastructure bank that would pay for over $1 trillion of infrastructure without raising taxes. I came home and told my husband I had heard a leader with practical, innovative ideas to solve the intractable problems we face in American. I became a fan of John Delaney. In 2017 and again in 2018, we had the opportunity to host John Delaney in our home […]

How Andrew Yang’s Freedom Dividend Could Help Keep Me In Iowa

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A guest post from Iowan Charlie Bell on why he’s supporting Andrew Yang for president. Peggy Whitson (the astronaut) once said, “I started out as a farm girl in Iowa, and I dreamed of being an astronaut and an explorer. And I made it.” Now, at first glance, this probably seems like it’s a wonderful thing and, in some aspects, it is. However, it also highlights an issue that has been haunting us in Iowa for years: brain drain. According to a 2015 article in the Des Moines Register, around 50 percent of the students graduating from Iowa State University […]

This Must Be The Health Care Congress

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A guest post from State Representative Liz Bennett of Cedar Rapids. Just days after the new 116th Congress began, Republicans’ efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA) have been on full view for all once again. House Democrats introduced a resolution authorizing the House Counsel to intervene in a Texas lawsuit filed by Republican state officials and backed by the Trump Administration. The suit, which won in December and will likely face a number of appeals, would dissolve the ACA in its entirety, which would be worse than any repeal bill that has come before Congress. Every Democrat voted […]

A Word Of Warning From A Rural Democratic County Chair

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A guest post from Brian Bruening, chair of the Clayton County Democrats in Northeast Iowa.  It’s easy to get caught up in national Democratic excitement after the November 6th election. We flipped two house districts in Iowa as part of the Democratic wave the crashed over the US House. However, on the state and local levels, November 6 was a bigger Democratic disaster than the Republican wave of 2010. While we flipped several Iowa House seats from Republican control in affluent suburban districts, a voting trend seen nationwide, Democratic representation in the Senate was decimated, and only one statewide office was moved […]

Planning A Run For President? First Protect New Medicare Part D Plan

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A guest post from Ro Foege, former state representative and AARP executive council member. The Iowa Caucuses are just around the corner, and presidential candidates will be flocking to the Hawkeye State in droves over the coming months, touting their voting record and stances on the issues, including healthcare. When it comes to prescription drug costs, opinions are abundantly clear across the U.S. – everyday Americans are being charged outrageous prices. Nobody should have to choose between buying food for their loved ones and paying for prescription drugs they need to keep themselves well. However, it is the reality that […]

How Rob Sand Won

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A guest post from Andrew Turner, campaign manager for Rob Sand’s State Auditor race. Sand was the only Democrat to defeat a statewide Republican incumbent in Iowa this year. November 6, 2018 will forever be a bittersweet night for many of us. There were great victories and great losses we will remember and learn from. I won’t, nor should any staffer, claim to have a secret formula on how to “Win as a Democrat in Iowa.” I’m simply going to tell you what I saw firsthand over 12 months of working with Rob Sand, and maybe that’ll answer the question of […]

Let’s Talk Iowa Rankings, Governor. Our Universities Are In Free-Fall

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Guest post by Allison Engel, an Iowa State University graduate, has worked in higher education for the past 12 years. Yes, Gov. Reynolds, let’s talk about U.S. News & World Report rankings. But not the livability rankings, which do not include data from all 50 states in all categories. In this blinkered competition, Iowa snagged the No. 1 spot, including the top ranking for infrastructure. This must have come as a surprise to those who read the recent Federal Highway Administration report that Iowa has the most structurally deficient bridges in the nation, as well as one of the country’s largest […]

Let America Vote’s Iowa Team Surpasses 80,000 Doors Knocked

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A guest post from Zack Davis, the state director for Let America Vote-Iowa. Photo: Let America Vote-Iowa Deputy Field Director Maddy Leahy with candidate Kenan Judge, whom she ran into as she was knocking doors for him in his district on Sunday. On June 9th, Let America Vote launched a boots-on-the-ground campaign in Iowa to elect voting-rights champions from Sioux City to Davenport and from the state House to the governor’s mansion. We assembled a team committed to partnering with campaigns and allies and adding real value to the effort to win back Iowa in 2018. And in the four and […]

How Bad Is Iowa’s Mistaken Felon Disenfranchisement Problem?

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Guest post from Adam Kenworthy, chair of Iowa Voting Rights Project KCCI reported on an important story last week regarding a man who was told he could not vote because he was classified as a felon. However, what the reporting revealed was that in fact the man was not a felon and that the Iowa Secretary of State’s Office had classified him as one incorrectly [update: the Secretary of State’s office clarifies that is was the federal courts that erroneously classified the man as a felon; the Secretary of State’s office fixed it within an hour of hearing about it]. […]